Why-Oh-Wi-Fi

In Brief

By Corey Pein

SFR readers will remember that earlier this year, Santa Fe anti-wireless activist Arthur Firstenberg

sued his neighbor

Raphaela Monribot, claiming her use of an iPhone and wireless internet aggravated his “electrical hypersensitivity,” or EHS—a condition for which there is little peer-reviewed scientific evidence.

First Judicial District Court Judge Sarah Singleton quickly threw out the part of Firstenberg’s claim regarding the offending iPhone. Lately, she’s penned a few rulings that don’t appear favorable to Firstenberg’s case, most recently denying his motion for temporary relief.

On July 8, Singleton also discounted an affidavit Firstenberg submitted by Olle Johansson, an “experimental dermatology” professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Johansson claims there is no psychological component to EHS.

Singleton ruled that Johansson’s testimony “does not establish that in this particular case there could not be a psychological component to [Firstenberg’s] impairment.”

Heavy skepticism aside, Singleton ruled last week that Firstenberg’s lawsuit could proceed; she has scheduled a non-jury trial for March, 2011, in the case of the toxic gadgets.

Santa Fe Reporter

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.